The President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, has expressed his confidence that this year’s Africa Cup of Nations will be a roaring success despite being the biggest–ever event in the history of the championship.
Pinnick, who is the first Nigerian to head the organizing committee for the biggest football championship in the continent, flew into Cairo on Sunday and will be in Egypt till 19th of July when the tourney ends, according to a statement from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF’s Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire.
“I am delighted at the general arrangements. The variables and specifics we agreed on in our meetings over the past months have been brought to life by the local organizing committee and the staff of CAF. Everything looks great.
“Of course, there have been concerns in several quarters over the little time that the Egyptians had to prepare for the competition, but we could all see from the show they put up hosting the Draw Ceremony that they are always ready for the big event. I have confidence that all will go pretty well,” he said.
Egypt 2019 is the biggest AFCON in history, with 24 teams to battle for honours over a period of 28 days. It is a pretty long way from the beginning, 62 years ago, when only three teams contested the inaugural AFCON in Sudan.
The North African country hosted the finals in 1959, 1974, 1986 and 2006, but has had less than six months to prepare for this big show which kicks off on 21st June.